


The Whispering Dead

by lucidscreamer



Series: 100 Yu-Gi-Oh Prompts [31]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: AU-gust 2020, Alternate Universe - Detectives, Alternate Universe - Urban Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Crime Scenes, Gen, Minor Character Death, Murder, off-screen violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-24
Updated: 2020-08-24
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:00:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26079145
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lucidscreamer/pseuds/lucidscreamer
Summary: As he walked, he cast out with his senses to see if he could find whatever it was that had so disturbed his Shadows. He could feel their agitation even now, their unease adding to his own, as he stalked around the building. His nostrils flared and his pace quickened as he caught the stench of death from the service entrance up ahead.----------The one where Vampire Lord Atem is a supernatural private detective.
Series: 100 Yu-Gi-Oh Prompts [31]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1266368
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5
Collections: AUgust 2020





	The Whispering Dead

**Author's Note:**

> Prompts:  
> 24\. private detective(s) au (AU-gust 2020)  
> 27\. Whispers (100 YGO Themes)  
> 19\. Vampire (Paranormal 25)  
> 01\. Devout (10 Vampires)
> 
> NOTE: This is actually part of the stuff I deleted from the NaNo attempt that became "Like Shrines to Broken Hearts", tweaked for an alternate universe where Vampire Lord Yami is also a supernatural detective.
> 
> Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh! is the creation of Kazuki Takahashi. No ownership of the canon characters, settings, or events is claimed and none should be implied.

Yami King, the man once known as Pharaoh Atem, could still feel the affect of his nightmares hours after waking. While restless sleep was far from unknown to him, these dreams of his ancient past -- more memory than dream -- were plaguing him far more than usual. They left him off-balance when he awoke, part of his mind tangled in the past, even as he tried to concentrate on the here-and-now. He had agreed to come here, after all, to suffer an awkward reunion with those who had known him when he had ruled the Two Lands, and all at the request of the man who now called himself Seto Kaiba.

Yami sighed and pushed his dark thoughts away. With an effort, he turned his attention to the luxurious space stretched out below him like a glittering offering. From his vantage point in the aptly named "crow's nest", safe behind one-way glass he let his gaze roam over the shifting mass of humanity crowded into Seto's casino. There had been some problems recently, things that while subtle were too many when taken all together to be coincidence, and Seto had asked Yami to lend his expertise to the case. Against his better judgment, Yami had agreed.

Aimlessly, he let his focus drift from one mortal to the next, drawn by a brightly colored shirt here, a glittering bit of jewelry there. Briefly, he followed the progress of a tall brunette between blackjack tables. She stopped beside one of the seated gamblers and rested a hand sparkling with diamonds on the man's shoulder. The man -- a scruffy blond in a battered leather jacket and jeans -- ignored her to focus on the game. The table in front of him held a veritable wall of chips stacked high and growing higher. Scruffy was winning, and winning big. That alone was enough to keep Yami interested for the moment. He narrowed his focus, zeroing in on the couple. Something seemed… off about them.

Raising his hand to his mouth, he nicked his thumb with the razor tip of one descended fang. Thick black blood welled from the tiny wound. He summoned a slender tendril of Shadow from the blood, then swiped his tongue across the cut, absorbing the blood back into his body. With a thought, he sent the Shadow coursing along the floor of the casino to coil beneath Scruffy's chair. Delicate as only a shadow could be, it reached up and insinuated itself into the man's aura.

Yami's hand rose to settle against the pyramid-shaped pendant hanging against his chest. Unlike the golden Eye, the Pendant didn't allow its wielder to read actual thoughts. But, with the help of his Shadows, Yami could learn a lot about someone by tapping into their aura. Scruffy's aura pulsed with greed and ambition, and a grim sort of determination. It rippled with additional excitement as he grinned at the dealer, who added more chips to the already impressive stack of winnings -- a princely sum, even by Yami's standards.

Yami's sharp gaze narrowed on Scruffy's face. Beneath a red-white-and-blue bandanna, sweat trickled down the man's face. Beneath the excitement and the greed, his mind reeked of fear.

Yami's eyes narrowed. Fear of losing? Or something else? Yami licked his lips, almost tasting Scruffy's fear, and the Shadow tightened its grasp on the human's aura. The Shadow's anticipation shivered down the bond it shared with Yami. It wanted to feed. Its need burst on Yami's tongue like the taste of hot, fresh-spilled blood. His hands clenched as he fought to control both the ravenous Shadow and his own hunger.

A concerned voice in his discreet earpiece brought Yami back to himself with a start. "Is something wrong, my Pharaoh?"

Mahaad. It didn't surprise Yami that his friend had picked up on the shift in his mood. Of all his remaining priests, Mahaad was the mostly closely attuned to the bonds between them. 

Yami watched Scruffy win another hand and celebrate by sharing a sloppy kiss with the woman in red. "Table forty-two. Scruffy blond blackjack player next to the brunette arm-candy in the red sequined dress."

A pause, while the other man presumably checked the video feeds from the casino floor, then Mahaad's voice came over the earpiece again. "He's not a regular. Shall I check him against the list?"

"Yes. There's something…" Yami could not put a name to his suspicions, but he knew better than to ignore his instincts. They rarely steered him wrong. "Find out how much he's won."

"Yes, Majesty."

Less than five minutes later, Mahaad reported back. "Keith Howard is a registered guest at the Kaibaland Convention Center, but he's been spending most of his time in the casino. In the last two hours, he's won almost $50,000 playing blackjack."

"A lucky man, our Mr. Howard."

"Or a card counter."

While not precisely illegal, card counting was not a practice Yami wished to encourage in his casino. He took a moment to consider his next move. "Is he on the watch list?"

"No. But this appears to be his first visit."

Yami nodded, though of course Mahaad couldn't see him. Just because Keith Howard was not on the list of known cheats didn't mean he was an honest player. Through his Shadow, Yami could feel the man's smug satisfaction as he raked in his winnings. Howard was gloating, proud of putting something over on the casino. That was his first mistake.

No one cheated Yami's family and got away with it.

Sensing its master's anger, the Shadow wormed deeper into Howard's aura, pulsing with excitement. Yami let it have a deeper taste before recalling the tendril. Howard swayed in his seat as the Shadow reluctantly obeyed its master's summons. It wanted more than a taste; it wanted to feed. 

Later, Yami promised the Shadow as it returned to him. Later, I shall grant you a feast.

In the ancient past, a thief such as Keith Howard might have lost his hands, if not his life, for his crimes. In these modern times, Yami had to be more subtle. "Get his photograph for Seto's files, then escort him and his companion from the casino. Make it clear they're not to return."

"Shall I ask them to leave Kaibaland entirely?"

"No… Allow them to remain for now, but be certain Howard understands that if they violate the prohibition on the casino, they'll no longer be welcome anywhere on Kaiba property."

"As always, Thy Majesty's will is accomplished."

Secure in the knowledge that Mahaad could not see him, Yami rolled his eyes. "It's the twenty-first century, you git," he chided. "No one but you talks like that."

"Sadly, I am aware of that. ...My Pharaoh." The radio went silent, giving Mahaad the last word.

Yami shook his head fondly. He remained unsure whether this particular trait was an ingrained habit from the old days, or simply Mahaad teasing him. It was difficult to tell with Mahaad, whose sense of humor had always been drier than the desert sands of their homeland. 

Something brushed against Yami's senses then, like a whisper just on the edge of audible, disturbing his Shadows and setting his every nerve to jangling. He felt a strange foreboding, a certainty that his comfortable existence was about to be shaken to its foundations. 

* * *

Sometime later, Yami's growing unease drove him from the crow's-nest to wander the halls of the casino and then out onto the street. As he walked, he cast out with his senses to see if he could find whatever it was that had so disturbed his Shadows. He could feel their agitation even now, their unease adding to his own, as he stalked around the building. His nostrils flared and his pace quickened as he caught the stench of death from the service entrance up ahead.

A few quick steps and he had found the source of both his unease and of the smell. Cautiously, Yami approached and knelt beside the body to study the scene. 

The body lay face down in a puddle of filthy rainwater. Brain matter and bits of bone tangled in the man's blond hair. Yami recognized the flag patterned bandanna lying beside the ruined head as the one Keith Howard had been wearing in the casino. Howard's body showed clear signs of violence: his clothing was torn, the arm and collar of his jacket shredded as if from claws, and one shoe was missing. From this new angle, Yami could see that -- in addition to the caved-in skull, Howard's throat was a jagged mess of mangled flesh. Given the nature of the wounds, Yami would have expected more blood around the corpse. That there was none pointed to one conclusion.

"He wasn't killed here," Yami murmured to himself, taking in the scene with new eyes. 

This seemed staged. Now that he was looking for it, he could see that Howard had been posed, legs splayed in a wide stance and one arm stretched out in what -- had the man been upright -- would have been a dramatic overhead gesture. But, why? And why had the body been dumped on Seto's doorstep? Just to cause trouble for the casino? Or for Seto personally? 

What had been a fairly routine investigation at the start of the night was becoming more complicated by the minute. Things weren't made any simpler when Yami heard the unmistakable sound of police sirens racing toward the casino, already too close for his comfort. Had someone, maybe the killer, set this up to snare him? The last thing he needed tonight was the scrutiny of the police, Yami thought, stepping away from the crime scene and toward the darker shadows along the wall. Better that no one saw him here--

And then the corpse moved. It rolled over, blank eyes staring at the sky as whispers of a long-dead language issued from its bloodless lips, and Yami realized he had an entirely different set of problems on his hands.

  
FINIS


End file.
